Hand placement indicia for sports balls

ABSTRACT

A sports ball that includes a hand placement guide disposed thereon for indicating proper hand placement for a person&#39;s hands for effecting a release of the ball. The guide has a first image of a release hand including a representation of the hand&#39;s palm and fingers, where the representation of the palm has first indicia indicating that the person&#39;s palm should not touch the ball. The representation of the fingers also has indicia indicating that the person should release the ball with the three middle fingertips of the release hand.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject invention relates to sporting goods, and more specificallyto sporting goods having instructive indicia disposed on the goodsthemselves for instructing people in the use of the goods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

By now skilled artisans in the field of sporting goods have recognizedthe benefit of very simple indicia disposed on the sporting goods toprovide some instruction as to the use of the goods. For example, U.S.Des. Pat. No. 375,129 shows a very simple hand placement indicia on afootball. U.S. Des. Pat. No. 329,674 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,876 showvery simple hand placement indicia on basketballs. This prior art showswhere to place the hands on a ball, but it does not include additionalhelpful indicia that would assist people in using the balls. Forexample, there is little or no prior art with indicia showing how toplace hands on a ball while the person is holding or controlling theball; nor is there any prior art showing the manner in which the personshould release a ball. One existing ball, the Hands-On™ ball marketed bySportime,® has more detailed hand placement indicia. But the indicia onthis ball teaches a hand placement strategy different from the presentstrategy, one which involves placing the release hand in flat-handedcontact with the ball, and fingertip-only contact with the support hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND ADVANTAGES

According to one aspect of the invention, a sports ball includes a handplacement guide disposed thereon for indicating proper hand placementfor a person's hands for effecting a release of the ball. The guide hasa first image of a release hand including a representation of the hand'spalm and fingers, where the representation of the palm has first indiciaindicating that the person's palm should not touch the ball.

According to another aspect of the invention, a sports ball includes ahand placement guide disposed thereon for indicating proper handplacement for a person's hands for effecting a release of the ball. Theguide includes a first image of a release hand including arepresentation of the hand's palm and fingers, where the representationof the fingers has indicia indicating that the person should release theball with the three middle fingertips of the release hand.

According to this hand placement strategy, the user has better controlover the release of the ball with the release hand for effecting a shot,a pass, a dribble, or the like.

FIGURES IN THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a basketball showing the image of a releasehand;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a basketball showing the image of a guide hand;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a football showing a right release hand;and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the same football rotated to show animage of the left release hand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings in which a sports ball having ahand placement guide is generally shown at 10.

Generally, the hand placement guide 10 indicates proper hand placementfor a person's hands for effecting a release of the ball. The guideincludes a first image 12 of a release hand including a representationof the hand's palm and fingers. The representation of the palm has afirst indicia 14 indicating that the person's palm should not touch theball. As shown in FIG. 1, the indicia 14 includes the words, “NO TOUCHZONE” together with the symbol for “No,” and also red coloring. Therepresentation of the fingers has second indicia generally shown at 16indicating that the person should release the ball with the three middlefingers of the release hand. The representation of the fingers also hasa third indicia 18 indicating that one of the fingers should be the lastof the three middle fingers touching the ball at the end of the release.

The term “release” means the action of forcing the ball out of the handin the context of some sporting activity. In football, the release is apassing or snapping of the ball, for example. In basketball, the releasecan be shooting, passing, or dribbling the ball, for example.

The second indicia 16 includes markings 20 disposed on therepresentation of the three middle fingers, and a legend 22 explainingthe markings. The markings 20 are colored circles disposed at the tipsof the three middle fingers. But any coloring, shading, or other markingmay suffice. The legend 22 shown in the figures says, “3-Tip ReleasePoints,” but similar variations could also communicate the concept thatthe tips of the three middle fingers are important in handling andreleasing the ball.

The third indicia 18 includes a marking on the representation of one ofthe fingers, and a legend explaining the marking. In the case of abasketball, the marking 18 is a star in the colored circle 20 on themiddle finger, though variations on the marking could suffice. Thelegend 22 shown in the figures says, “Feel The Middle Last,” thoughother similar legends could be used, as long as they communicate theconcept that the person should release the ball in a manner where thetip of the middle finger is the last part of the hand to contact theball before the release. In the case of a football, the marking 18 is astar in the colored circle on the index finger, and the correspondinglegend 22 says, “Feel The Index Last.”

The representation of the fingers may also include indicia generallyshown at 21 indicating that the person should control the ball with thetips and pads of the fingers. The pad of the finger is the portion atthe base of the finger adjacent the palm. The pads are indicated in thefigures with oval indicia 23 at the base of each finger, and the ovalindicia 23 are part of the indicia 21. The indicia 21 may also includethe legend 24 saying “Pad & Tip Control” or the like, possiblysupplemented with the arrows as shown. The purpose of this indicia 21 isto teach that the person should control the ball while holding andreleasing it with the tips and pads of the fingers. The rest of thefingers should not contact the ball.

In one embodiment, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ball is a football andthe representation of the fingers contacts the lacing of the football.FIGS. 3 and 4 show right and left release hands, respectively.

In another embodiment, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ball is a round ballsuch as a basketball, and the round ball further includes a second imageof a guide hand 26, the second image being spaced apart from the imageof the first hand. FIG. 1 shows a right-handed release hand at 12. Butthe typical ball would also include a left-handed release hand, andindeed this is shown in FIG. 2 at 12′.

The image of the guide hand 26 includes three middle fingers 28 and auniversal finger 30 on each side of the three middle fingers, where eachuniversal finger can be either a thumb or a pinkie finger. In thismanner, the image of the guide hand 26 represents either a left hand ora right hand.

If a person follows the directions printed by the hand placement guide,including the various indicia, the person will be able to control andrelease the ball in the proper way, which includes initiating a spin onthe ball when the ball is released.

The invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is tobe understood that the terminology that has been used is intended to bein the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, it is to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. Moreover, thereference numerals are merely for convenience and are not intended to bein any way limiting.

1. A sports ball including a hand placement guide disposed thereon forindicating proper hand placement for a person's hands for effecting arelease of the ball, the guide including: a first image of a releasehand including a representation of the hand's palm and fingers; therepresentation of the palm having first indicia indicating that theperson's palm should not touch the ball.
 2. The sports ball of claim 1wherein the representation of the fingers has second indicia indicatingthat the person should release the ball with the three middle fingers ofthe release hand.
 3. The sports ball of claim 2 wherein therepresentation of the fingers has third indicia indicating that one ofthe fingers should be the last of the three middle fingers touching theball at the end of the release.
 4. The sports ball of claim 1 whereinthe representation of the fingers has indicia indicating that the personshould control the ball with the tips and pads of the finger.
 5. Thesports ball of claim 2 wherein the second indicia includes markingsdisposed on the representation of the three middle fingers, and a legendalso disposed on the ball explaining the markings.
 6. The sports ball ofclaim 3 wherein the third indicia includes a marking on therepresentation of the one finger, and a legend also disposed on the ballexplaining the marking.
 7. The sports ball of claim 1 where the ball isa football and the representation of the fingers contacts the lacing ofthe football.
 8. The sports ball of claim 1 where the ball is a roundball, and the round ball further includes a second image of a guidehand, the second image being spaced apart from the first hand.
 9. Thesports ball of claim 8 wherein the image of the guide hand includesthree middle fingers and a universal finger on each side of the threemiddle fingers, where each universal finger can be either a thumb or apinkie finger, whereby the image of the guide hand represents either aleft hand or a right hand.
 10. A sports ball including a hand placementguide disposed thereon for indicating proper hand placement for aperson's hands for effecting a release of the ball, the guide including:a first image of a release hand including a representation of the hand'spalm and fingers; the representation of the fingers having indiciaindicating that the person should release the ball with the three middlefingertips of the release hand.
 11. The sports ball of claim 10 furtherincluding indicia indicating that one of the fingertips should be thelast of the three middle fingertips touching the ball at the end of therelease.
 12. The sports ball of claim 11 wherein the ball is abasketball and the indicia indicates that the middle finger is the lastof the three middle fingers to contact the ball.
 13. The sports ball ofclaim 11 wherein the ball is a football and the indicia indicates thatthe index finger is the last of the three middle fingers to contact theball.